Archive for November, 2005
The FCC’s E911 deadline passed today with little fanfare. VoIP service providers are required to file a letter with the FCC indicating how much of their subscriber bases do not have E911 compliance, and they are also required to stop marketing their services to or signing up customers for whom E911 service is not available.
This is a much watered down version of the FCC’s original ruling which would have required VoIP providers to cut off service to customers without E911 service. The FCC backed off that ruling after an intense lobbying effort from the VoIP industry. Voice on Net (VON) Coalition, an industry organization, estimated that 750,000 customers would have had their service dropped if the FCC did not make the change. It estimates that 98 million Americans will be ineligible to sign up for VoIP service under the new rules.
In related news, Third Party Verification filed an ex parte letter with the FCC today asking for a reprieve from the E911 requirement. As support for its argument, the company points out that Congress is working on a bill which would push the E911 deadline back until December 31st.
Finally, New Global Telecom used the E911 deadline to launch its new "SafeCall E911 service":
an FCC-compliant E911capability supporting the company’s 6DegreesIP Voice-over-IP (VoIP) product suite. 6DegreesIP is a wholesale-hosted VoIP product suite for CLECs, ISPs, and Tier 1 and 2 service providers focused on business or residential markets. SafeCall E911 enables the subscribers of NGT’s service provider customers to enjoy the nomadic capabilities of VoIP services within the extensive SafeCall E911 service area. The service area encompasses 60% of the U.S. population today, with projected growth to 70% by year-end and up to 85% by mid-year 2006. SafeCall E911 automatically provides enhanced information, including a caller’s telephone number and registered location address, to an appropriate emergency services operator whenever the subscriber dials 9-1-1.
"SafeCall E911 is a comprehensive service providing end-users with an enhanced degree of safety and security," said NGT President and CEO Rich Grange. "The FCC challenged the VoIP industry to rapidly meet a high standard for 911 service. I am very pleased with the innovative work that our team, together with our strategic partners, has put toward successfully meeting this challenge."
Here’s an innovative VoIP product:
Priced at $299, the NB9W MyNetGateway is an integrated broadband access device that incorporates an ADSL2+ modem/router, Wireless Access Point/Bridge and VoIP Gateway delivering in one package what initially required four separate devices.
"The MyNetGateway is the perfect unit for users who want to remove the annoyance associated with having multiple communication, networking and Internet devices in the one workstation," said David Stewart, Managing Director, NetComm. "The integrated features of the NB9W allow users to combine the technologies into one simple, stylish box, making it ideal for residential and business users alike."
The NB9W is the first product in NetComm’s new PerformaPlus series of high-end Internet hardware units.
"The PerformaPlus series is designed to deliver robust performance to handle multiple processor-intensive Internet applications simultaneously - including VoIP, Video on Demand, High Definition Multimedia Streaming, Web serving/hosting and On-line gaming," said Stewart. "We’ve developed it for demanding home or small business users that don’t compromise on quality or performance when selecting broadband or computer hardware."
City Halls in Massachusetts switched to VoIP:
The town of Milton has switched to Internet-based phone technology in Town Hall, joining Hingham as one of the first municipalities in the region to make the leap to a system on the cutting edge of communication technology.
The move was designed to eventually save money, but it also solves a more immediate problem: it had become increasingly difficult to find people who could repair what had become an archaic phone system, said town officials.
Milton Town Administrator David A. Colton said he expected savings of about $300 or $400 a month. The system cost about $40,000 to install.
”We had to get a new phone system because the old system was defunct," said Colton. ”It was old and archaic. . . . It was very expensive to call a service guy."
There is an added benefit for residents: The new system allows for quick changes so a town can, for example, set up a flu hot line ”in 20 minutes," said Steve Becker, Hingham’s manager of information services. It couldn’t be done before.
The system is called VoIP, or ”voice over Internet protocol." It uses the same underlying technology as the Internet.
With VoIP, the person making the call does not notice anything different. He or she gets the same dial tone and the phone generally looks the same, explained Michael E. Roberts, chairman of Milton’s Technology Committee, which helped the town make the switch. But underneath the surface, the technology is very different from old phone lines. The caller’s words are digitized and disassembled into packets of information that are sent whizzing across the Internet. At the other end, the packets are reassembled into speech.
Consumers and companies like it because it’s cheaper. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a business analysis company, says by next year two-thirds of the world’s 2,000 largest companies will be using VoIP. And IDC Corp., a Framingham-based research company, has projected that its use in the United States will grow from 3 million people this year to 27 million in 2009.
And Vancouver, BC may do the same:
The City of Vancouver is considering switching to Voice over Internet Protocol, a state-of-the-art telephone system promising improved customer service, cost savings and internal operational efficiencies.
The city has 6,000 phones using equipment anywhere from eight to 20 years old, and in some cases facing end of manufacturer support.
Staff are recommending the city pay Planetworks Consulting Corp. about $60,000, plus taxes to help the city develop a corporate telephony strategy.
Becker, in the first story above, makes a good point about the flexibility of VoIP. If an emergency comes up, VoIP will allow them to react immediately, 24/7. With a traditional phone line, who knows how long you’d have to wait to get your telco to respond.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) of the Philippines has issued new rules restricting VoIP services.
Under the recently issued regulations, VoIP calls must be routed through fixed-line carriers. It is illegal for calls to be routed solely and directly via foreign IP addresses.
Furthermore, the NTC regulations prohibit foreign-owned companies from offering VoIP services in the Philippines. Only companies which are at least 60% owned by Filipino citizens will be allowed to offer VoIP.
The regulations appear to have been put in place for protectionist reasons, though, no doubt, they’ll force Filipinos to continue paying high prices for long distance telephone service.
More in the China VoIP blocking saga.
Two weeks ago, US IP technology firm Verso announced that it had sold a trial version of its VoIP blocking software to a "tier one" telecommunications firm in China. Verso touted its NetSpective® M-Class product as being a great way for Internet service providers to limit their customers ability to use the full range of Internet services.
Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom responded to Verso’s announcement by calling it a PR stunt in an interview with the Financial Times, claiming that he had no knowledge of VoIP being blocked in China through the use of Verso’s IP filtering product.
Enraged, Verso CEO Monty Bannerman shot back saying that Verso is indeed working with a Chinese telecom:
“Verso does have an executed trial agreement with a tier one carrier in China; however, at the request of the customer, we will maintain their anonymity until the trial is completed. We will not jeopardize an important business relationship to respond to baseless comments,” said Monty Bannerman, CEO, Verso Technologies. “Verso has been doing business in China for more than 10 years and we understand the market and its regulatory environment. In addition, it has been widely reported that Skype technology is illegal in China,” added Bannerman.
Verso’s press release continued to tout the benefits of IP service blocking, such as decreased vulnerability to viruses and lower bandwidth usage by customers. It’s clear that traditional telecommunications firms would prefer that customers not switch to cheaper VoIP services, and that Internet service providers would prefer that their customers use less bandwidth. It’s also clear that these benefits are in diametric opposition to the interests of customers who want access to VoIP.
Sadly, in a country where telecom is heavily regulated, as it is in China, IP service disablers like Verso probably stand to make a good deal of money - at the expense of the public.
No shortage of news from Skype
these days. Recently acquired by eBay for US$2.5 billion, Skype has been on the move of late.
First, Bloomberg reports that Skype is in talks with Chinese state-owned telecom operators to offer VoIP to landline calling services. Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom says that China is already one of Skype’s biggest markets in terms of free users of the service. Previously we reported that VoIP may be banned in China.
Next, Skype has signed a deal with Singapore-based Pacific Internet (PacNet), Asia’s largest telco-independent Internet communications service provider. The two plan to sell a co-branded version of Skype’s VoIP service in Singapore dubbed "PacNet-Skype." Catchy.
Kevin Lim, Managing Director of Pacific Internet Singapore said, ”This partnership with Skype reflects our plans to bring in services that are exciting, convenient and affordable to Internet users here. For a long time, Internet in Singapore is centered on speed of access rather than applications and content. PacNet is focused on being the ‘Usage Expert’. In other words, we want to help users maximize their internet connection. The opportunity to work with Skype is a delightful one as we are now the first company to offer low-cost premium voice communications with local support to the Singapore market. In particular, we will be promoting the SkypeOut service, which allows users to call any landline or mobile number in the world at competitive rates.”
”From the business perspective, partnerships with best of breed solutions provider such as Skype will help us to strengthen our existing access-based customer relationship with more value. It should also attract non-PacNet access customers to use these services and this presents a good opportunity to acquire these new relationships.”
Niklas Zennstrom, CEO and co-founder, Skype, said, "We are delighted to work with Pacific Internet. This partnership continues our rapid expansion in Asia, a strong growth market. Singapore callers will be able to realize the massive cost savings and added features that Skype offers above and beyond the traditional phone, with the benefits of local billing and customer support.”
The FCC launched a new Web site today on E911 issues for consumers, industry personnel and state and local government officials with information about the FCC’s E911 regulations for VoIP service providers. The site is run jointly with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said, “Anyone who dials 911 has a reasonable expectation that he or she will be connected to an emergency operator; this expectation exists whether that person is dialing 911 from a traditional wireline phone, a wireless phone, or a VoIP phone. This new Web site will provide an easy way for consumers, industry and other government agencies to get the most current information on this important issue.”
The E911 issue has been very contentious recently, but this issue has been in the works for at least a year now, so it’s disappointing that the FCC and industry are dragging their feet on it.
The new site is www.voip911.gov
From the Associated Press:
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A federal appeals court on Tuesday refused to delay new Federal Communications Commission guidelines requiring Internet telephone companies to provide reliable 911 emergency call service.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied a motion filed two weeks ago by a group of Internet telephone companies who claim the regulations are unreasonable.
In May, the FCC ordered providers of Internet-based phone calls, commonly called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, to certify that their customers will be able to reach an emergency dispatcher when they call 911. Dispatchers also must be able to identify the caller’s phone number and location.
The companies were given until Nov. 28 to comply, and many providers worried that they would be forced to disconnect customers who didn’t have full 911 service.
Monday, November 14th, 2005 | Posted in VoIP News | 1 Comment »
One of the most productive governmental regulations of telephony requires phone companies to let you keep your number when you switch carriers.
As more people switch their primary home phone over to VoIP, there’s been a corresponding increase in the number of reports of number transfers (called "ports") that have gone wrong. People have been without phone service for weeks or even months when their phone number enters a black hole of sorts: incoming calls go nowhere.
The porting process gets started when you fill out an authorization form and send it in with a copy of your phone bill to the new carrier. Your new phone company will forward the request along to your old phone company. In theory, you should then get about a week’s notice that the number is being "ported" over to the new carrier, and that should be just about the end of it. Your new carrier and its landline partner will work with your old carrier and its landline partner to work out the details of the transfer behind the scene.
But, for a small number of people, one of those four groups drops the ball. Perhaps the authorization request letter is lost, or there’s a technical problem in the computers and the ported number doesn’t get picked up by your new carrier.
Then it’s a game of "Whodunnit?" to determine where the problem is and how to get it resolved. Here’s a classic story of a small business that couldn’t receive incoming phone calls on the telephone number it had listed on over 300 Web pages for nearly two months:
http://www.netadventures.biz/vonageproblem.htm
This shouldn’t be a reason for you to shy away from porting your telephone number if you want to switch providers. But you’re better off preparing in advance. Make sure you have another way to make and receive calls until the new service is up and running in case anything goes wrong. And give your friends, family or important customers your e-mail address or alternate telephone number to be on the safe side.
Monday, November 14th, 2005 | Posted in VoIP News | 1 Comment »
We posted a story earlier about Microsoft’s acquisition of Media-Streams.com in order to get its VoIP technology. Here’s a screenshot of what Microsoft Live Messenger will look like:
It integrates instant messaging, VoIP, Google Maps-style maps and an address book. Pretty cool.
When can I get all of this on a cell phone PDA?
